Secret
by ShiroyukiKaji
Summary: Aida Riko and Momoi Satsuki know a secret about Kuroko that he kept even from his light, Kagami Taiga and the whole of Seirin's team. Takao Kazunari also has a secret that he did not tell his ace, Midorima Shintarou, about. What could the secret be? A Takakuro fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

It was a tough day at practice today at Seirin. Aida Riko was not a normal high school girl. Maybe she was in other aspects but she was definitely not entirely normal. Why? Because she was the coach for the Seirin's basketball team.

Lifting the whistle that was over her chest to her mouth, Riko blew it hard enough for it to catch all the members' attention. The training resume for today was tougher than usual. Dribbling, shooting, strengthening their defense, heightening their stamina and then more dribbling. The boys were all drenched with sweat, panting because of the vigorous exercises and training they just finished.

When everyone gathered around her, she made an announcement. "Alright, I know this is sudden but we have a practice match with Shutoku at the end of this week," she said as she looked from her left to right at the boys lined up in front of her. "It would be a good chance for us to learn something new in this practice and the coach for Shutoku thinks so too. So don't take lightly of this practice match, play as if you were striving to win! Do you get me?"

"Yes!" everyone replied in unison.

"Finally, another match with that bastard Midorima!" Kagami exclaimed, clearly the most excited one on court. "Just you wait, Midorima! I'm going to beat you so hard!"

Hyuuga smacked Kagami's arm when he walked past him. "Shut up! Stop shouting!" he scolded, causing Kagami to quiet down and mutter an apology, not forgetting to add in honorifics at the end of his sentence.

Kuroko, who was standing beside Kagami after that happened, walked towards the bench where his light blue towel and water bottle were. He sat on the bench and wiped off his sweat as he replenish the water content in his body. Staring into the space in front of him, he felt someone sit beside him. It was coach.

"What is it, coach?" he asked, polite as always to anyone he talks to.

She smiled at his acknowledgement of her sitting beside him. "Kuroko-kun, how are things going with him?" she asked out of concern.

Kuroko turned his head to his right to look at Riko. "It's fine though we haven't been meeting for a while now," he answered monotonously. "We're only sending mails to each other through our cell phone,"

"Was it because of practice?"

"Yes," Kuroko was no longer facing Riko, he was staring up ahead, observing Kagami getting lectured by Hyuuga with Kiyoshi there trying to calm Hyuuga down. "He said that practice has not been letting up recently and the same goes back to our practice at Seirin. So either way we're still not able to meet,"

"Do you miss him?" Riko tilted her head to the side. It was an obvious question but it did not hurt to ask.

What surprised her next was Kuroko's answer. "No," he said, without a hint of any sort of emotion.

"What? You don't?"

Kuroko only nodded.

"But why? Aren't you suppose to be missing him, wanting to see him or touch him? Isn't that the normal reaction?" confused by his answer, Riko shot questions at the poor blue haired boy. Maybe she was having thoughts like that because she read a lot of shoujo manga recently.

The blue haired boy reached for his bag and got his blue cell phone out. He flipped the screen open and pressed on the keypad with Riko eyeing him suspiciously. He showed her what was displayed on his cell phone screen. It was a picture of a raven haired guy doing a 'V' sign with his fingers and shaping his lips into a '3'.

Before Riko could comment on the picture, Kuroko clicked into the next picture where the same guy was smiling handsomely. Not only did the smile make him look sexy but there was a hint of fondness in it.

"So this was why you said no?"

"It was a joke,"

"Which is it?!" she snapped.

Kuroko flipped his cell close with his index finger, leaned forward with his elbows on his knees to support him when he hung his head, looking down at his shoes. "... I don't know," he smiled a little, sounding lonely.

"Well, if he were to not treat you properly, come talk to me! I'll—"

"Coach! We need your help here!" Koganei shouted from across the gym, cutting Riko off midsentence.

"Kuroko-kun—"

"Thank you, coach. I'll take you up with the offer if it's still available when that actually happens," Kuroko replied, knowing what Riko was meaning to say in her previous sentence. Riko smiled and patted Kuroko's shoulder in approval of his answer and to cheer him up. She turned to walk away from him while shouting back at Koganei to acquire the reason he needed her help.

* * *

**A/N : Hey there! I've started a new story after I ended my previous one 'Jealous'. I have to thank this one person who had been supporting me since my very first work up on FFN and this story idea was also provided by her! (You know who you are ;) ) Thank you for reading this till the end like always and even this kinda long author's note of mine! Please do excuse my grammar mistakes in there if there is because I've noticed a few mistakes that I have done in my previous works when I reread it. Chapter 2 will be up soon(?) I'm not sure but have a nice day! **


	2. Chapter 2

Sigh.

A second later...

Another sigh.

"Takao,"

Sigh. "What is it, Shin-chan?"

Midorima clicked his tongue at Takao as he glared down at him with his emerald green eyes through his glasses, clearly very annoyed, by what Takao did not know. He was about to open his mouth to ask about it but Midorima beat him to it. "I'm the one who is supposed to ask you what is it. Why are you sighing at every single second?" he asked the raven haired boy who was sitting on the ground, legs crossed, the top of his head leaning against the wall to look up at him.

Takao grinned, teeth showing as he said, "What is this? This is rare for Shin-chan to show me his concerns!"

"I was just asking because I was annoyed and you're the cause of it," Midorima said quickly, covering up for himself. "Now, answer my question," he said, fixing his glasses with his taped finger.

"You tsundere~!" Takao made fun of him, a hint of amusement in his voice, making it sound melodious when he said it. Still smiling from ear to ear, he answered the green haired boy while looking into his eyes. "It's nothing," his voice was quiet as he lowered his head slowly, avoiding Midorima's gaze. He was afraid that Midorima would find out about everything if he did not do that.

Takao had a secret that he kept from everyone including his ace. According to a certain someone, there was only the Seirin coach and that pinked haired girl with a huge rack from Touou Academy who knew about it. How did they come to know? Shoot, he did not even know how but based on his guesses, that certain someone might have went and consult with the coach about the secret and the other just knew from much stalking.

If you asked if Takao was okay with keeping it as a secret, he would be lying if he said yes. Everyone knew how Takao was. He could never keep a secret. Thus, after that someone successfully persuaded him into doing this, he was somehow stressed out at the fact that he had to keep it all to himself after that.

To be honest, Takao wanted to brag about it to everyone he knows really badly. Though sure, letting others know was not a problem but that depends on the person he was talking to. Those girls sure got a lot of that certain someone's trust. So much to the point it was okay to let them be. _If only I didn't give in. If only I turned the table over then so that I was on the winning side. _

Sigh.

Takao slapped his hands against his mouth to stop it from coming out but he was too late. With his hands still over his mouth, he slowly looked up at the Midorima who was silently standing beside him, observing the other basketball members practice while sipping onto his own water bottle. He forgot how long had it been since he stood there beside him. Did he hear him sigh?

There was not a single movement from Midorima. What happened? "Oi— Shin-chan— Can you hear me?" Takao waved both arms at him, still seated on the ground. Ignored. "Seriously, Shin-chan, what's wro—" he was about to question him but noticed an orange thing sticking out in his right ear from where he was sitting.

He got up onto his feet and yanked it out of Midorima's ear. There was one more stuck in his left ear but Takao let it be. "Shin-chan, why are you wearing earplugs?"

He fixed his glasses again while retrieving the earplug from Takao. "They're today's lucky item and it came in handy," he plugged them in again and not forgetting to mention, "As expected of Oha Asa,"

Sigh. "Shin-chan— Am I really that annoying?"

"Takao!"

Someone called his name from across the gymnasium, it was one of the basketball members.

"Yeah?" Takao shouted back at the same volume the member used to him.

"Coach wants us to gather around, he has something to announce apparently. Remember to grab Midorima with you, it seemed like he did not hear us,"

"Yeah, okay," he flashed a smile at him and turned back to his Shin-chan. "Shin-chan— C'mon!" he pulled out one of the earplugs again. "Coach's calling, let's go!"

"You don't have to tell me that, I know that already," Midorima replied, acting like a mister know-it-all and snatched the earplug from Takao's hand again while walking pass him. "And stop taking off my earplugs for me,"

Sigh. When was he going to see that person again? That question had been up in his mind since forever. As many could see, practice had been tough lately because Shutoku had a match coming up. It was not like they could not win, with Midorima in their team, scoring was definitely not the problem. But the coach said that they had to work more on their defenses and so here they were, still practicing at the gym when it was already 7PM.

As Takao was lost in his thoughts, he stopped his feet when he reached the crowd surrounding the coach, not paying attention to what was happening around him. He wondered what was the coach was planning to announce to them. It would be great if he could meet that person.

"— with Seirin,"

His eyes grew wide at the mention of Seirin High School. "Wh-What was that, coach? Could you say that again?" Takao quickly asked since he was not able to catch the sentence before that.

The coach let out a frustrated sigh. "Takao, why aren't you paying attention? I said that we're going to have a practice match this weekend with Seirin,"

"REALLY? Oh my god," Takao breathed out, covering his face with his hands and faced up. _The chance of meeting that person had arrived! And yes, that person is at Seirin. _Removing his hands away from his face, he did a fist pump in the air, jumping and cheering at the same time.

"Err... What happened to Takao?" some guy approached Midorima and whispered, obviously worried by his actions all of a sudden since he had been only sighing all day lately even during practice.

Midorima just hmph-ed at him as an answer to his question, leaving him extremely confused. He did not want anyone to know that even he did not have any idea what was wrong with Takao these days. The seniors would just make fun of him if they knew.

"Takao! It's time to continue practice!"

"Okay!" Takao said, hands still balled into a fist. He could not stop grinning, he bet he looked like an idi—

"You look like an idiot right now, Takao," Midorima spat at him as he walked to his side. "Let's go,"

"Gee, thanks, Shin-chan," still having a huge grin on his face, he asked, "Do I really look like an idiot?" his silvery blue eyes shinier than usual, sparkling with excitement as he looked at Midorima.

Midorima just merely stared at him in disgust. "Shin-chan— That's just mean!"

"Practice is starting, Bakao*. Stop fooling around,"

"But I'm not, ehehe," Takao laughed softly at the thought of having to practice with Seirin later in the weekend. He could not help look forward to it. Just from thinking about being able to see him after so long thrilled Takao so much it left his body tingling.

That night when Takao went back home, he opened the door into his room and flopped face down on his bed, exhausted. _I need sleep_, he thought to himself. He knew that but he just sat up and reached for his cell phone in his back pocket. He flipped it open and clicked into his gallery.

Takao had a bunch of pictures of that person though it was just sneak shots of him. He clicked into one of them where he was sipping onto his milkshake at Maji Burger with this really serious expression on, then the him in the street light, the him asleep under a tree with a book in hand and left it open on his chest. Takao just smiled at every single picture, remembering about those days when they had the time for each other.

It was not like that person did not send him any pictures of himself though, he does actually, since Takao did it too with every chance he had. That person would send him a picture of his milkshake or maybe a new book that he had been waiting for that he finally was able to buy or a picture of him with that dog who looked exactly like him called Nigou, or Nigou and more Nigou.

_Come to think of it, Tecchan doesn't really send me a picture of him, huh? Thank god I sneaked a few photos of him._ Smiling at the thought, he continued clicking through the pictures and stopped when he saw the one where he sneaked in a picture while Kuroko was kissing his cheek. His face was tinted with light pink, embarrassed because he had to do it in public _(They were at a park and there was no one, but it is a 'public' park.)_, his light blue hair touching Takao's cheek as he did.

Takao touched Kuroko's hair over the screen with his index finger gently. He sighed again as he flipped his cell phone close and buried his face into his knees while his arms hugged his legs tightly against his chest. _How am I supposed to live my life without my charger...?_

He pushed himself up and stepped down from his bed. _I should go take a bath_, he thought, ruffling his dark raven hair.

_I want to see you so much right now._

* * *

**A/N : Okay, I know I said 'soon', but please forgive me! I have been quite sick lately and just couldn't move from one place... ;_; But here it is! Chapter 2! キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━! I'll start by thanking the people who read the previous chapter, and then the people who finished reading this chapter. I'm really glad that there are actually people reading!( ﾟヮﾟ) And here is the answer to one of the reviews I received for the first chapter! Well you see, I don't really know how long this fanfiction will be actually but I know that the next chapter is definitely not the end of this story. I'll let you know in the chapters when I'm ready to close the story but until then I'll appreciate it if you are willing to stick with me until the end, I really am! The same goes to the others too! Credits to my lovely friend on FFN who provided me ideas of the pictures Takao sneaked of Kuroko! Reviews are always appreciated! And as always, thank you for reading! OWH AND I ALMOST FORGOT, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Please look after me in 2015 too! *bows***

***Bakao : I think many knew about this but I'm just going to explain anyway, Midorima was calling Takao an idiot and his name at the same time. Baka + Takao = Bakao. Get it? *sparkles sparkles***


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost 8PM.

The Seirin basketball team had just finished their practice not long ago and were all at Maji Burger for supper.

"Haa..."

"What is it, Koganei-senpai?"

"Uwah, Kuroko! Since when are you here?!" Koganei jumped from his seat, surprised, dropping his cup of coke in the process. "My coke!" he cried as he watched all his coke go to waste.

Kuroko took a sip from his cup before answering. "Since just now," Kuroko reached into his pocket and took out some money and handed them to Koganei. "Here, I'm so sorry for your coke," When he was about to receive the money from him, Mitobe came from behind and hit Koganei in the head.

"Ow! What was that for, Mitobe?"

"..."

"What?" Koganei rubbed at the spot that Mitobe hit with his palm. "Seniors should not take money from their juniors?" Kuroko, with his straw still in his mouth, stared at them, observing the way they interact with each other. He had always wondered how Koganei could understand what Mitobe was trying to say when he did not even say a single word.

He never heard Mitobe's voice before. Not once. And worse still, he always had that inexpressive face expression on all the time. Not that he could complain because he was the same. Maybe not every time, like Mitobe, Kuroko knew how to smile, feel angry or sad at times. For example, he felt angry when people insulted his friends, sad when he lost a match and happy when he won one. He just did not feel the need to wear any emotions on normal occasions.

Though he knew that he always had a different expression on and not to mention, a feeling in his stomach, like butterflies knocking against its walls when he— Kuroko left his thoughts there as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Placing the cup of vanilla milkshake down on the table, fingers still wrapped around it, he reached for it with his right hand.

He flipped the screen open. It seemed like the reason his phone vibrated was because he just received a message from someone. Without seeing who the sender was, Kuroko clicked into the message and read it.

Bang.

All of Seirin's basketball members even Kagami, who had a half eaten burger in his mouth and another in his hands, turned to look at where the sound came from. It was from the blue haired boy sitting by the window seat with his head lowered, face down. It appeared that Kuroko kicked the chair in front of him with a really strong force, producing a loud sound. He squeezed on his cup of milkshake too hard, causing all of the content in the cup to flow out from the edges of the cup. Kuroko quickly flipped his screen close after realising that he caught everyone's attention.

"Wh-What happened, Kuroko?" asked Koganei, reverting his attention back on him. Kuroko hoped that his misdirection worked at that time. He did not want anyone to look at him at the moment. Grabbing a tissue from the table, he worked on cleaning his hand covered in white foam instead of answering. Thinking that maybe if he did not answer they would just back off.

Oh, and here he thought he was right.

"Whuat ish wong wif you, Kuwokou? (What is wrong with you, Kuroko?)" Kagami said with his mouth full. Kuroko still did not look up nor did he answer. Kagami chewed quickly on his food and swallowed before his next question. And it was a bad one. "What has been up with you recently?"

Kuroko flinched ever so slightly. He knew that people would not have noticed but he could not help but feel that they might have and feel uncomfortable about it.

"Come to think of it, Kuroko has been acting strange lately, huh?" it was the captain talking this time.

"Really?" Kiyoshi asked. "Isn't he always like this?"

"Now I'm pretty sure you're wrong, Kiyoshi," it was Izuki's turn to step into the conversation. "He has been staring into space a lot these days, it's definitely not normal,"

Kagami, who was finally finishing his last burger and the one who brought up this conversation, shot another question at the poor blue haired boy. "So, what is it?"

Kuroko never thought that the day he wished that he had a hole to hide into would come but he did now. Beads of sweat started forming on his forehead, considering it was really cold that day. He did not know what to say. He could not just tell them where his mind was wandering off lately. He could not possibly have. He wanted to keep it as a secret.

He knew it was selfish of him to keep such a thing from them but it was his secret, his privacy to protect. Kuroko was about to open his mouth to say something but Riko barged in.

"You know what?" she said in a sweet voice, making her sound cute. Successfully gaining every Seirin basketball members' attention, they all turned their heads to her. "I'm going to triple up tomorrow's practice. What do you think?" she grinned at them sweetly, hands planted in her hips.

"What?!" everyone exclaimed.

"Wait a minute, coach. Why triple tomorrow's practice?" Hyuuga approached Riko, wanting to know her reason for doing so.

Riko hummed when Hyuuga asked. "Tripling isn't enough? I'll gladly increase it to five times?" still having that devilish smile on her face.

"No!" all of the members shouted except for Kagami. He was just sitting there at his seat, staring at Kuroko with those crimson red eyes of his. Kuroko looked up for a moment and met his eyes. He looked away unconsciously, not wanting to engage any contact from him until everyone officially laid off the subject from a while ago. He directed his gaze at Riko instead who was busy with the other members' attention.

Riko felt someone staring and turned to face Kuroko. She winked at him, a wide grin on her face. She hid her hands behind her back, secretly giving Kuroko a thumbs up as an implication of her being able to handle the commotion in front of her.

Kuroko had to remember to thank the coach later. If it were not for her, who knows what was going to happen if the others knew about it. Noting it down mentally, he continued sipping his leftover milkshake quietly.

* * *

"So what made you kick the chair just now?" Riko asked, walking home side by side with Kuroko, the other guys at the front. She would usually walk in the front, leading the way but she decided to slow down today to question the blue haired boy's unusual behaviour.

Kuroko looked to his right at Riko. "Do you really have to know?" he stopped his feet and moved to her right slowly, keeping her away from the road since it would be dangerous. A very gentleman act from him.

Riko felt her face heat up. What was she thinking? Just because he was being a gentleman to her and she was reacting to it like some immature teenage girl. Though the fact that she _is_ still a teenage girl still remains. And of all people, Kuroko made her feel that way! Not to mention that he was already unavailable. Mentally slapping herself, she answered, "Of course!"

He let out a sigh, looking forward at the other members making a ruckus because Nigou peed on someone's bike. Actually, that seemed serious. He had to go splash some water on it and apologise to the owner. But he ought to reply to the coach's question first. "It was just that I received a message from him,"

"Really? Isn't that a good thing? What did he send this time?"

Without saying anything, he took his cell phone out of his pocket, clicked onto the said message and handed it to Riko. She took it and started reading.

There was not much to read, it was just him saying that he took a shower and how he found out that they were going to have a practice match later this week which thrilled him then there was no more. Nothing. Riko averted her gaze from her screen to Kuroko, cocking a brow at him, confused. _How is this enough to make this expressionless boy have such a huge reaction?_

All Kuroko did was point to the bottom with his index finger, indicating her to continue scrolling down and she did. There was a picture.

It was a picture of Takao, _naked_. Okay, he was half naked but it was because of the way he hung his black towel loosely on his hips, showing his Apollo's Belt that made him seem like he was _naked_. His dark raven hair still wet as droplets threatened to fall from the end . It was clear that he had not dried off properly before taking this picture which only made things worse since it made his well-toned body stood out more as it shone under the light.

Covering her mouth, Riko gasped, remembering to keep it down so that it would not attract any attention. "How bold!" Looking back at Kuroko, he still kept his head up, eyes looking forward but had a difficult expression on. She could even see the colour red creeping up onto his face in the dark. "It was no wonder you reacted like that, if Hyuuga-kun were to— Forget I said that, understand?" she returned him his blue cell phone.

Kuroko nodded as he received it from her. He knew about her relationship with Hyuuga-senpai as she knew about his with Takao. It was like a give and take thing. It helped too, keeping a secret from everyone is tough. Therefore, knowing that he had someone there to listen to about his complaints relieved him.

"But you're so cute! Reacting so much just from a picture like this!" she teased, slapping Kuroko on the back with her palm.

With the back of his hand hovering over his lips, so that it covered part of his face that was as red as a tomato now, he said, "That's because I rarely see them," still looking forward, he was too embarrassed to face Riko right now.

"You say that but don't you always get to see Kagami's? His is extremely well-toned too!"

Kuroko shook his head. "No, it's different,"

"How?"

"I don't know but it is different,"

That answer caused Riko to smile. That felt like what Kuroko would say after all. "Alright, I need to catch up with the guys over there now. Talk to you later! Oh, and I think you should go to Nigou now,"

"Yes," he answered as she patted him a few more times on the back before leaving. He walked to Nigou and the others, taking out his water bottle and poured it over the spot where he peed. He picked him up and bowed at the owner in apology.

When he was about to continue his way back home, Kagami towered over him with his tall figure, glaring down at him. "What is it, Kagami-kun?"

"That's my question to you, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Kuroko tilted his head to the side, not knowing what he was meaning to ask about even though he knew very well what it was.

"You can talk to me," he said as he walked down the sidewalk with Kuroko catching up with him, Nigou in his arms. "You know, about things. Whatever it is,"

That was sudden. For Kagami to stand up and say this to him, relying on him other than just on basketball. It made Kuroko feel happy, he did not know how to explain how happy he was but he just was. "... Kagami-kun, thank you."

"So?"

"But I'm not going to tell you,"

"You—!"

From where Kuroko and Kagami were, they could see something pink over at the convenience store.

Kuroko's eyes widened in surprise. "Momoi-san?"

She turned her body at the mention of her name. Those pink orbs of hers sparkled at the sight of her favourite man in the whole wide world.

"Tetsu-kun—!"

* * *

**A/N : Okay, chapter 3! Had been working on this for quite a while and I finally finished! As always, thank you to the wonderful people who read the previous chapters and of course, this current one. Also, thank you so much to the people who reviewed. I would very much like to reply but I'm afraid I did not have any time to do so! (Bad excuse there, I know) But just so you know, I wanted to say that I'm really grateful for those reviews and am always motivated every time I receive them from you! THANK YOU. ;_; So as you can see and I hope it's pretty obvious that the story is still not going to end yet! *hearts* And I've decided that it's actually about time I throw Momoi in. Now I have to torture myself to think about the content that she's going to talk about with Kuroko in the next chapter. Wish me luck! Reviews appreciated! Do excuse my grammatical errors as always! Have a nice day! *winks***


	4. Chapter 4

"Why are you here at this time of the night— " Kuroko asked as the pink haired girl ran towards his direction, waving her hand at him. Before he could finish his question, Momoi lunged forward and hugged him, causing Kuroko to fall backwards on his behind. Nigou jumped off from Kuroko's arms to Kagami's, making Kagami flinch, his hair stood up like a cat's. He held onto Nigou tight so that he does not fall off even though he did not like it.

"Tetsu-kun! Tetsu-kun—!" She said loudly, nuzzling into Kuroko's chest as she took in his scent. _Smelling like vanilla as always! _She apologised immediately when she heard Kuroko said 'ouch'. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Tetsu-kun! Are you okay?" Checking if he had any injury, she asked, her pink orbs shone with tears.

"No, I'm fine, Momoi-san," He assured, patting her head as a gesture to tell her to not worry. See? This was why she loved this man so much. Like, who would not want to get married with this man and be happy for the rest of their lives? _He's gentle, kind, nice, has a sense of humor (though weird), considerate, etcetera._ Oh, how she loved Tetsu-kun.

His hand still on her head, he started stroking it as he asked his unfinished question. "So, why are you out here at this time of the night without anyone escorting you?" _She likes it a lot when he does that._

"Listen to this, Tetsu-kun!" Kuroko nodded. "So, Dai-chan called me through my phone just now. He said it was something important and he needed me to come over to the convenience store immediately. I went and guess what he wanted from me?!" Kuroko only shook his head.

"He asked me to pay for his Mai-chan magazine! Could you believe that?!"

"Mai-chan? The one that he usually reads?"

"Yeah!" She tightened her arms around Kuroko, burying her face in his chest. "That's why you're the best, Tetsu-kun! You would never do that to me, right?"

"Of course not," She looked up at him and saw one of his rare smiles. She thought she was about to faint there. "Where is Aomine-kun now?"

Momoi pointed back at the convenience store. "He said he still wanted to stay there for a bit, reading some of the magazines I refuse to pay for,"

"So you're going to walk home alone?"

She nodded as a reply, flashing a smile at him while letting go of him. She stood up and so did Kuroko. "I'll walk you home," he said, picking up his bag that fell onto the ground when she attacked him.

"Eh?! Really?" Her eyes sparkled once again in anticipation.

"Yes," He replied and turned to retrieve Nigou from Kagami. "Thank you, Kagami-kun,"

"Hey—" Kagami called after Kuroko who was ready to walk Momoi home. "About the thing you could talk to me, I'm always available. So—"

Kuroko smiled at him with gratitude, he always knew Kagami was a good guy. He just never really showed it and when he does, it touched him a lot. "Yes," was the only reply he gave to him and walked back to Momoi's side with Nigou in his arms.

As they were walking away from him, Momoi glanced back at Kagami to find him still standing there, his gaze was directed at Kuroko's back. Noticing that he was being stared at the pink haired girl, he quickly turned his head away, his face slightly flushed. "Wait here for a moment, Tetsu-kun!" she said as she flashed a bright smile at him, skipping towards Kagami.

He looked confused when she stopped right in front of him. "Hey, Kagamin!"

"What do you want? And what's with that 'Kagamin'?!"

Humming, she asked, "Do you like Tetsu-kun?"

"Idi— What are you saying?! That's stupid!" He shouted as he glanced over at Kuroko who was waiting for Momoi from a distance patiently. Without looking Momoi into her eyes, he muttered, "... Of course I like him," Though he quickly added more to the sentence, "But that's only because we're in a team, alright?! It would be weird to play basketball with a person you hate after all, don't get the wrong idea!"

The way he tried to cover up for himself amused Momoi so much that it made her giggle. "Thank you, Kagamin," she said after giggling and smiled at Kagami gently.

Her smile only made him blush even more than just now. Momoi was said to be a beauty after all. "For what?" the red head asked.

"For taking care of Tetsu-kun. Well, I shouldn't let Tetsu-kun wait any longer, let's talk more next time! Bye bye, Kagamin!" she waved at him and went back to Kuroko, leaving Kagami with his face the colour of his hair.

Kuroko bent his body a little at Kagami, indicating that he was going to take his leave for real when Momoi was by his side again, being polite like always. "What were you and Kagami-kun talking about just now?" he asked when they started their way to Momoi's.

"Oh, it's nothing!"

They talked about various things like how was life at school, how was practice, what had they been doing and something related to Nigou and then they both went quiet. To be exact, it was Momoi who quieted down. It was not like her to do so, she who talks non-stop at all times (well, except for times when people needs their own space, aside from that, you know.) being quiet all of a sudden?

Kuroko did not want to impose too much into her privacy and thus he only walked beside her silently. When they finally reached Momoi's front door, Kuroko bade her goodbye and told her to have a good night while bowing his body a little. He turned to walk away but before he could go any further, he felt a force pulling onto his sleeves. It was her doing.

"What is it, Momoi-san?"

"Tetsu-kun, are you still with him?"

His blue eyes widened in surprise. He was not expecting her to ask that question because she had been avoiding this topic ever since she first found out about it. Maybe people would not believe it if he were to say this to them but he does care about Momoi, a lot actually. Like if she was sad, he would want to be by her side and cheer her up, laughing and smiling as she shared about happy things happening around her, listen to her rant about her problems when she was angry, so on and forth.

He wanted to be there for her but he just did not think of Momoi the same way she did to him, he only thought of her as a sister if he had one. The only one he had ever felt for was Takao and only him. It saddened him for not being able to answer to her feelings. "... Yes," the word came out of Kuroko's lips easier than expected after he took a deep breath before answering.

"I see," Momoi grabbed onto his sleeves tightly, afraid that he might disappear if she did not do that.

Kuroko really thought that she was about to burst out crying as he saw her pink orbs flashed a little, tears welling up in her eyes but he was wrong. She looked up into his eyes, sniffed a little and flashed a smile at him, holding in her tears but failed. He put Nigou down and moved forward to cup her face in his hands, wiping away the tears that were now rolling down her cheeks with his thumbs.

"Why are you crying and smiling at the same time?" He asked softly, it must have been really hard for her. It would be better if she cried then he would not feel confused and sadder. "I'm sorry," was all he felt he could say at that moment.

Momoi let go of his sleeves and grabbed onto his hands which were busy helping her clean her face instead. She still had a smile plastered on her face. "No, Tetsu-kun," She sniffed. "You got it all wrong,"

"What is?"

"These are tears of joy," she said, her thumbs rubbing Kuroko's hands, flashing her teeth at him. "I'm happy for you, I really am,"

"Then why are you only bringing this up now?"

"That was because I needed some time to let it process and digest properly in my mind," Leaning her face into his right hand, sighing with relief, she added, "And the product I got after all those processing was as long as Tetsu-kun is happy then I am too. Oh, and just like what Kagamin said just now, you can talk to me too, about him especially since you always had to keep it to yourself!"

As expected of Momoi, always giving Kuroko a hard time to read her, shocking or surprising him every time. He smiled at her. Just as he thought, she was precious to him. "Thank you, Momoi-san,"

After he thanked her, she finally let out all the tears she had been trying really hard to hold in, wailing in front of her house, shocking him. Her parents rushed out from the front door to find their daughter wrapping her arms around Kuroko's body, making him feel troubled. They had to pry her away from him and it was not easy.

He patted her head one last time for the night and told her to go to sleep and tuck in under the blankets properly since it was really cold tonight so she would not catch a cold. She nodded to everything he told her to do while wiping away tears, hiccupping 'un's at the same time. Kuroko then apologised to her parents for making her cry and had her stand outside in the cold for so long, grabbed Nigou and left.

* * *

On his way back home, he thought about what Momoi said. 'As long as he was happy,' she said but he was not sure if he is. He had been feeling sad and miserable for a while now and the feeling was not gone yet. And to worsen it up, he felt lonely too.

He craned his neck up and looked up into the night sky, his breath visible as he breathed out. _I want to see Takao-kun._ Not through photos though, he wanted to see a Takao standing in front of him, cupping his face like what he did to Momoi's just now, showering him with kisses on the lips or on his cheeks, whispering disgusting sweet nothings into his ears like he always did when they still had time for each other.

Lowering his head slowly so he could focus on where he was heading, he sighed. _How long do they need to wait? Two more days until the practice match starts?_ He took out his cell phone to look at the photos Takao sent him. _He'll have to do with the pictures for two more days and then he could finally meet him._

"Two more days," He said out loud to himself.

_I can do it, it's just two more days._

* * *

**A/N : Hi, it's been a while! I'm going to start off by apologising if this chapter does not seem interesting to you since it's like a filler chapter? It's a TakaKuro thing but I inserted a slight KagaKuro here like what I did with my previous work. Thank you for reading and I'm sorry for always updating really slowly! So I have Momoi out of the way now, might throw her in again once in a while but yeah! Here it is, chapter 4! Once again, reviews appreciated! Excuse me if you noticed any grammatical errors here and there! Good day! **


	5. Special : Valentine's

_I failed._

The smell of burnt food could be smelled if one enters the kitchen at this instance, though it was not any normal food. It was a chocolate. Why was a chocolate suddenly dragged into this? Well, that was because Valentine's Day was tomorrow and there stood a blue haired boy in a light blue apron with a picture of a white rabbit in the middle of it. _(It actually belongs to Kagami.)_

Kuroko Tetsuya was currently on a mission on learning of how to make sweets. He was holding onto the handle of a pot with burnt half-finished chocolate in it. The appearance did not seem bad at all since chocolates were dark in colour in the first place but he could not bring himself to give it to someone as a gift. Frowning, he set the pot aside and rolled up his sleeves.

"Oi," He heard someone come closer to him from behind. Before he could react, the person grabbed onto his head, stopping him from proceeding with his work.

"What is it, Kagami-kun?"

Kagami glared down at him with his crimson red eyes, let Kuroko correct that, _looked_ down at him since they have a really huge height difference. "How many times do I have to tell you to keep the temperature below the boiling point?"

Yes, this tall annoyed red head was here to help out because Kuroko forced him to. (By chasing him around the school grounds with Nigou in hand.) "You have to stir it gently when you're heating it too, why is it so hard for you to do so?" He said then muttered, "Ah, there goes the raw materials..." to himself.

"I can't read temperatures without a thermometer, neither can I stir because it's tiring," Kuroko made up excuses as he tried to pry Kagami's hand away from his head because it hurt. The grip on his head loosened and he thought he was free but Kagami slapped Kuroko on the back of his head, causing him to jerk forward, eyes widened in shock.

"Here's the candy thermometer to gauge the temperature," He picked it up by the stove and put it in front of Kuroko. "Turn the fire down when you notice the temperature increasing in a high pace. And if you're not going to do it properly then don't force me into helping you with it!" Kagami scolded as he got dumped the burnt chocolate into the trashcan.

Kuroko rubbed the back of his head before returning to what he was doing. He was mixing cocoa powder and softened butter in a bowl, trying his best to get rid of lumps but then got distracted when Kagami suddenly spoke up.

"Why did you want to make chocolate all of a suddenly?"

It was a good question. Kuroko would not blame him for asking that. It seemed out of his character after all, to say that he wanted to make some. "There's no special reason to it, I thought I wanted to make some for the captain and the others," _And for him too. _Of course Kuroko was not going to tell Kagami that, he did not want to be questioned about it.

_It's a secret after all._

"And you're going through all this trouble for them?" The red head sighed, frustrated. "You could have just bought them at a convenience store or something, maybe a chocolate bar,"

That sounded a lot like what Kuroko and Kagami would do but still. "No, I still don't think that's a good idea," Since he could give them any time on any day, so why choose Valentine's to be the day for him to give them chocolate bars? "The effort is the most important part after all,"

"But if you're giving something like what the coach would give then I doubt they would accept them though," Kuroko was really impressed by Kagami. He wondered how he could talk and pour the chocolate mixture that he made into containers with various shapes. If Kuroko did that, he would either overspill it or would stop in the middle of his sentences.

"Then I would force them to take it,"

"How?"

"... Stuff it in their faces," Kuroko said after a long pause. It sounded more like a question than a statement and it terrified Kagami a lot.

They worked in silence for a while after that. Kuroko finally took the effort to stir the cocoa powder mix in the hot water. It came out better than just now and it made him really happy though he did not show it. When he was ready to stir the sugar mixture he added after he poured the hot cocoa mix into a bowl, he noticed Kagami made heart shaped chocolates.

"Kagami-kun,"

"Yeah?" He looked up at the boy and replied.

"Do you have someone that you like?" Kuroko asked and he heard clanging after that when the spatula that Kagami was holding on to fell onto the ground. He saw how red his light's face turned into and realised that he does have one. _Why didn't he know?_ He was such an obvious person, showing all of his secrets like he was wearing them on the outside all the time. He should have noticed.

Though he was not one to say. He himself kept a secret from not only his best friend but everyone else too. The blue haired boy looked away for a moment in guilt and looked back to see Kagami pushing his hair to the back with his fingers, his face still red, Kuroko could feel frustration from him.

"Are you an idiot?" Was his first sentence to him. "I can't believe it— Never mind," He sounded really angry at first but then sighed in relief after he calmed down.

"So who is she?" Still curious, Kuroko decided to continue pursuing for an answer.

"It's a secret,"

A few hours passed, Kuroko did his _bestest _with his chocolate and there was results.

"It's done," Kuroko breathed out, he heard Kagami shuffling his way to him.

He looked over his shoulder to have a look at his work. The chocolate were shaped into little balls and rectangles. They were all wrapped properly with translucent wrapping paper neatly, it was so Kuroko-ish. "I can't believe that you've done it," He patted Kuroko on the back. "See? You could have done it earlier if you actually made the effort!"

There was a box with light blue ribbon tied around it beside the others. Kagami reached out to check the chocolate inside. "What's this? Why is this the only one different from the others?" It seemed fancier than the others. Before he could reach for it, Kuroko snatched it away quickly.

His actions surprised Kagami. Kuroko gasped before he quickly added, "I checked this one already, so you don't have to go through the trouble to open the wrappings to check it again," He took a deep breath. "It's okay, thank you,"

The red head eyed him for a few seconds, trying to make out the reason why he was all so panicky but gave up after a while. "Well, if you say so. It's a pain to wrap it back again since you've already wrapped it nicely,"

Kuroko let out the breath that he had been holding in for a while. _That was close._

* * *

It was the 14th today. Takao looked up into the winter February sky as he sat on a bench at the park far away from his school, both of his hands were placed on the space in between in his thighs as he leaned his body forward, his breath visible in the cold air.

Not that he had school today, it was actually a Sunday. There was no school, and surprisingly the coach had a date today and told them to not come for practice. Takao laughed a little too hard after that. To imagine him having a date? It was so hard. He chuckled at the thought again, holding onto his sides since it still hurt from all the laughing.

"Valentine's huh...?" Takao said, to no one in particular. He was outside, alone, on Valentine's. It sounded so sad but he was not. That was because he was actually waiting for someone, the one and only one for him.

And speaking of the devil, Takao could already see him from afar, blending into the crowd like always. He rested his chin on his hand, elbow on his knee, and just stared at the blue 'thing' trying to make his way out of it. It was so cute, when he was helpless and all, Takao believed that it could cure anything in the world. Well, at least it would only work on him.

After the boy finally made his way out of the crowd, he whipped his body around, looking for someone. When he saw Takao, he paused for a moment, tugged onto the strap of his bag and jogged towards him. Palming his face to cover it, Takao tried to hide the smile behind his hand. It would be bad if kids who passed by saw it since it might be really disgusting at that time.

"Takao-kun," The boy called out to him, stopping his feet in front of him. He was panting. Takao wondered if he ran here all the way from the train station which was quite a distance from here.

Removing his hand from his face, he looked up at the boy from his seat. "Tecchan!" Grinning, he stretched his arms forward, inviting him to get closer.

Kuroko obeyed and took a step forward. Takao circled them around Kuroko's waist and pulled him closer. Once he had a good hold of him, he wrapped his arms tightly around him, burying his face into his clothes. "I've missed you," he said, his voice muffled. "A lot," he added as he nuzzled into Kuroko's sweater.

He felt pressure on his head. It was him. His hands were on his head, stroking his hair gently, whispering a "Me too," back to him. Kuroko bent his body a little then kissed Takao's hair lightly, breathing in his scent at the same time. Takao did the same. Still smelling like vanilla even after so long.

Amazingly, Seirin's coach, Riko-san, decided to let them off today as well. From what he heard from Kuroko, it seemed she herself had a date with the captain. It had been a while since they've met and to think that Valentine's was such a good opportunity.

He hoped it was Valentine's everyday then.

It always felt good to have Kuroko stroke his hair. He loved it. It made him feel like it was okay to fall asleep even though it was not the appropriate place to do so. Breathing steadily, he rubbed his face against Kuroko again, sighing in content, feeling at peace like he was back to where he belonged. Though it did not last for long as Kuroko stopped stroking him, and removed his hands to place them on Takao's shoulder to push him away.

"Takao-kun, we're in public," he said, as he looked around him, worried that people would see them.

Refusing to let go, Takao pulled onto him, now resting his chin on Kuroko's stomach, looking up at him, he pouted. "So? I'm not letting you go. Never. Not today," he did not see why he had to be aware of the public today. It was Valentine's, the other couples would be so mesmerised by each other they would not have the time to even bat an eye at them.

"People we know might be here," the blue haired boy tried reasoning with him, his hands were back on Takao's head again, causing Takao to relax again. "It's a secret, remember?"

He sighed. "But we even made our way out here which was like a few stations away from our school?" The raven haired boy really did not want to keep this secret anymore but he respects Kuroko. Respecting him meant that he had to respect his decisions too but it was so hard to keep things up like this. "We're really far away from them today so why can't we just act like normal couples for once?"

Kuroko's expression changed instantly, he was troubled by the suggestion, by him. Worry, anxiety were all mixed in it too. It pained Takao to see him like this. He would protect this boy from everything in this world if it meant that he would not wear that expression ever.

He loosened his grip around Kuroko, very, very, slowly. Takao did not like it, but he would do anything for him. Lowering his head like a child who did something wrong, feeling guilty, he apologised. "I'm sorry,"

This time it was Kuroko's turn to feel bad. The ever-so-energetic Takao suddenly quieted down. Who would feel comfortable with that?

As Takao slid his arms away from him, Kuroko managed to grab one of his hand, causing Takao to flinch since he was not expecting that from him. He tried to get a proper hold on it and just held on to it, moving it from the left to the right lightly. "I'm sorry," it was his turn to apologise this time. "Even though it's Valentine's,"

Takao, still on his seat, craned his head up to take a good look at Kuroko. "I'm happy," he said as he held his hand to his lips and kissed it gently, his eyes closed. "As long as you are," he glanced back up at him with his silvery blue eyes, finishing his sentence.

_A blushing Kuroko is the best._ This was what Takao always said that to himself and the real one was standing in front of him.

"Oh yeah," Kuroko said, he removed his hands from Takao's and reached into his bag. There was a box in his hand when it was out of his bag. He held it with both of his hands and handed it to Takao.

"What's this?" He asked with his eyes widened as he received it from him.

"It's Valentine's, so I brought chocolate for you,"

"Bought from the convenience store?"

"I made it myself," The blue haired boy said. You could actually hear how proud and satisfied he is with himself if you were observant enough.

"Is it edible?" Takao questioned, opening the box as he chuckled softly. He was really happy. To think that he would make the effort to make him chocolate. He felt like he was the happiest man on earth at that moment.

"Of course it is, I had Kagami-kun to teach me how and then I did it without his help after that," He told him, mentioning Kagami's name along the way to assure Takao that it was edible. Kagami was a really good cook after all. "I made the chocolate from scratch too—"

Takao had been silent after he opened the box as Kuroko explained about his chocolate. He was trying to hide the blush creeping onto his face. The chocolate he got from him was heart-shaped or so it seemed like a heart. It was so badly shaped that it made him want to laugh real badly. The most important part of all was the message he wrote on the chocolate. There were only three words and it was enough to destroy him. It was so cute.

He did not care anymore. He did not care if someone sees them. He could just give a really good explanation after that, he was extremely good at it after all.

"I failed for a few times but I was able to succeed—" Kuroko was not able to finish his sentence since Takao pulled him down for a kiss.

He was shocked by it and was trying to fight back, wanting to stop him but failed when Takao bit on his bottom lip, asking for permission to explore his mouth. Instead of struggling out of his grasp, he gave in and cupped Takao's face in his hands, returning the kiss.

Takao was grateful when Kuroko gave him access into his mouth and took in everything he could get from it. He broke the kiss a few times and kissed him back again to make sure that his Tecchan got to breathe. And each time he did that, he got to hear Kuroko moan his name softly, careful to not distract other people's attention.

He finally decided to really break the kiss but was still really reluctant as he did, planting soft kisses on his now swollen lips, whispering 'I love you's between them. He stopped kissing him but Kuroko was still placing kisses on his cheeks for a while.

They both stared at each other for a while then Takao broke into a grin and hugged Kuroko again.

"Happy Valentine's!"

* * *

~おまけ~

Kagami looked down at the pink striped paper bag that he was holding in hand. It was all sparkly and had ribbons in the middle of it, to describe its overall, it was extremely girly. Not the type that Kagami would want to even touch but for the sake of that person, he had to.

He asked her out and she agreed, surprisingly enough. He was nervous though. What would he do if he rejected this stupid pink paper bag? Then he would have to bring it back home and do nothing with it. He would feel reluctant to throw it away after all since he spent so much time on it. Choosing the perfect bag, wrapping paper, right materials for the content.

The content, turned out to be a chocolate. It was Valentine's, he made it with Kuroko the night before and it turned out okay and he just thought that he should make some for her since he was already making them already. And here he was, standing under the town's clock, waiting for her to appear.

Kagami was being extremely self-conscious too. He kept trying to fix his hair, his clothes, pants and checked if his shoelaces were properly tied. He was looking into his own reflection in the water fountain beside the clock, fixing his hair into different styles.

"Kagamin...?" A cute, feminine voice could be heard from behind him.

He flinched at it and jumped, shouting as he did. "Mo-Momoi?! Why are you here?!"

She glared at him and puffed her cheeks. "What do you mean by 'why am I here'?! You were the one who told me to come out on Valentine's, didn't you?!"

"But it's still early, like an hour early from the promised time!"

"Then why are you here?!"

"Th-That's because I can't have you waiting if you came early—"

"If you had the thought of me coming early then why are you so shocked at the fact that I'm here now?!"

"It's because I was not mentally and physically prepared!"

They both shouted at each other for a long period of time, questions and answers shooting from here and there at each other.

"Aaaahhhh—! Seriously! Here!" He pulled her hand and opened her palm, placing the pink bag on it. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

She stared at it, confused. "What is this?"

"I-I made extras, thought I'd give it to you. Be grateful!"

Still staring at it, she blushed. A reaction that Kagami did not see coming. The next thing that happened was her jumping onto him, arms around his neck. Kagami had to hold onto her waist so that things would not happen to her if she let go suddenly.

"Thank you, Kagamin!"

* * *

**A/N : Hi! I doubt anyone was actually expecting a special chapter from me and I never expect myself to be able to write/post it on time since I have really bad time management.I was actually suggested from my friend to do this and I actually planned to do it before but never got myself to do it on Christmas so here it is! I hope you guys like it, really, I really do. By the way, this is just a special chapter for a reason. It does not mean that they've met each other in the main story! Thank you for readng, like always. Reviews appreciated, even though I can't/didn't reply you, I still read them. Thank you! Happy Valentine's!**


	6. Chapter 5

_It's here._

Slowing his running pace, hands on his knees, Takao struggled to catch his breath. Practice at Shuutoku was as tough as always and Takao was keeping up pretty well. He would always be the first one who would fall on the ground, lying on his back as he breathes in air greedily. But not today. His seniors stood there and stared at him as he continue running round the Shuutoku basketball court, even Midorima stopped running to do so.

It came. The day that he had been waiting for. The day they both could finally meet.

Just the thought of them being able to meet up gave him a lot of motivation. When he finally caught his breath, a towel was blocking half of his vision. Glancing up, he grinned. "What's up, Shin-chan? Why are you being so kind all of a sudden?" he asked as he received the towel from him, muttering a thank you through his smile.

"You seem motivated,"

With the towel covered over the bottom half of his face, he eyed Shuutoku's ace. "I do?"

"Sparkles,"

"… Huh…?"

If one were to listen properly, they could hear Midorima did a little gasp. He cleared his throat twice and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, not saying anything after that. He could not tell him that he saw sparkles around Takao.

"Shin-chan, what do you mean by sparkles?" Being the curious Takao, he decided to continue pursuing for an answer, making Midorima blush and fluster.

Not seeing it coming, Midorima opened his mouth and asked, "Why are you so motivated today? Something good happened?" Fixing his glasses, most probably to cover the blush creeping into his face. "Scorpio ranked first today in OhaAsa, so what is it?"

He was shocked at the question and the fact that he ranked first in OhaAsa for the first time ever since he met Shin-chan. (Shin-chan always seemed to have ranked higher than him every time.) "I never knew you were so worried about me, Shin-chan," Smiling, he patted both Midorima's shoulder with his hands. "Do you really want to know?"

"The fact that I'm asking you about your condition does not mean that I'm worried about you, don't get the wrong idea, Bakao," Fixing his glasses, _again_, for the nth time. Before he could continue pursuing, one of the seniors called out.

"Oi! Gather up!"

"Well, Shin-chan, we've got to go or Miyaji-san is going to nag at us again! Saying stuffs like stuffing pineapples into our faces or some sort," Takao said, shivering at the thought. He moved to the side to walk towards the crowd and away from Midorima. "You do not want to know," he said quietly. Patting his shoulder one last time, he added, "It's a secret after all,"

After every single Shuutoku basketball member got together. Ootsubo-san announced, "We're having a practice match with Seirin, remember to not let your guard down!"

"Remember to learn from them and have fun at the same time," said the coach who was sitting on the bench placed at the side of the basketball court, chin resting on his hand.

"We're here!"

Everyone turned to look at the entrance of the gymnasium right after the coach finished talking. They came. They finally came.

Greetings could be heard as each of the guys from Seirin walked in. Riko-san moved towards their coach and greeted him, even the coach stood up to shake her hand as a good manner, respecting her as a fellow coach for a basketball team. Takao could also see Hyuuga-san and Kiyoshi-san talking to Ootsubo-san, Izuki-san with Miyaji-san and the funniest of them all was Midorima and Kagami.

They both stood together side by side but they refused to look at each other.

"… Yo," Kagami finally decided to break the silence between them.

It made Midorima flinch and tch-ed a little. "Please don't talk to me,"

"Haa? What the hell? I'll talk to whoever I feel like talking to, don't order me around,"

"And I get to choose to _not_ talk to whoever I don't feel like talking to, so please _don't_ talk to me," Midorima replied, stressing some of the words in his sentence.

"Oh, I would very much _love_ to talk to you," he said through his teeth, a popped vein visible on his temple, clearly pissed.

"I would pretty much like it if you just back off,"

"We'll settle this on the court,"

"We shall,"

And they both just broke up and walked away in opposite directions. Takao cackled at that but quickly recovered because he had an important mission to look for someone, someone who has really weak presence. He had to jump a little because of his height to look at the crowd full of tall people, in hope of seeing him.

There he was. Moving slowly into the gymnasium with the huddle, bowing and greeting politely every time he passed by someone. Takao sighed as he drank in the sight of him, his face and body features, still very adorable and lovable. Their eyes met each other for an instant and it felt like electricity just zapped into him, causing every hair in his body to stand. He looked away really quickly though, making Takao sigh again.

He hoped they had time for each other during this practice match.

Once again they were asked to gather around and so they did. While everyone was busy listening to both the coaches' briefings about today's practice match, Takao moved away from Midorima's side slowly to not attract any attention to himself and moved near Kuroko.

He was just right next to him. Of course there would be a gap in between them, he would not want to break the promise he had with him. It was called a secret for a reason. Takao turned his head to look at him, he was so focused on listening to the coaches he did not even notice that Takao was right beside him.

Takao decided to stay quiet for a bit and just stare at him. It had been so, very long since he last saw him. The pictures he sent via messages did not include him recently. It was always pictures of the Seirin members or Nigou. There was even a picture of Momoi-san (with Nigou) lately but not him. There was just no pictures of him.

_His hair grew a little longer comparing to the last time we met_, he thought. He wanted to caress it, feel the texture of his soft, silky hair. _No, he had to control himself._ All of this could wait until later, for now he should just focus on practice and the time he could spend with Kuroko. In the end he still thought he should let Kuroko know that he was there.

Reaching forward for Kuroko's hand that were placed at his side, he poked lightly at it, feeling Kuroko flinch at the contact. He glanced back at his face to see his round blue eyes widened with surprise. Mouthing a 'hey', Takao continued poking his hand, as if asking for permission to hold his hand.

He did not nod nor did he shake his head, he just looked back to the front. Takao thought it was a no-go but Kuroko opened up his palm, waiting for Takao to react. And of course he grabbed it, of course he did. He was really happy, being able to hold hands with him even in public. He was glad he made the decision to sneak beside him, it was all for the good.

His palm was warm and soft, just like how it was back then. He loved it. Takao was still staring at him and Kuroko was aware of it because he mouthed words at him. It made Takao so very happy to the point he had to hide both the blush and his smile by looking down at his feet, with his other hand covering his face. That was really cute. Who would have thought?

_I miss you._

Ah, he wanted to hear Kuroko say that for real now, not just mouth those words at him, even if it was just a whisper. "I love you," Takao said quietly under his breath and he was pretty sure Kuroko caught them because he was trying really hard to keep a straight face on, his face flushed and he nodded as an acknowledgement of his words.

"Alright, move it you guys! The practice match is about to start!" The coaches said as they ushered the guys to do some warm ups.

Riko snickered after all the other guys turned their backs on her, finding it extremely cute and funny at how no one could see the obvious chemistry between the two of them, like how they exchanged looks just now. Really, just how. The guys here must be idiots, thank god for that. There they were again, standing next to each other as the two aces threatened each other. People might only think that it was just to separate the two aces from getting too close but they were too far from that.

When Kuroko and Takao had to separate to go back to their own teams, Takao felt reluctant, hesitant. He did not want to leave but he knew they had to. As they moved pass each other, he bumped gently into him, having his arm brush against his. Kuroko turned to look back at him, he did the same, light pink visibly tinted on Kuroko's cheeks because of the contact they made. "I'm sorry, are you okay?" Smirking, Takao asked and winked at him.

"No, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," Kuroko apologised and walked away from him.

"What took you so long?" Midorima asked as soon as Takao stood beside him, stretching his arms and legs. "We are not going to lose or it would be a long day today,"

"Okay!" Takao replied, still smiling.

_It would be great if today was a long day._

* * *

**A/N : EEEEYYYY. IT'S BEEN SO LONG. Yep, it has been really long so here it is. I hope you like this chapter because I do! XD Maybe it's because I enjoyed writing this one because I could finally let them get together *wiggles brows* (even though I did it for the Valentine's Special) So sorry for the long updates *bows* And I'm trying to reply to your message (u know who you are) please give me some time ;_; I'll reply ASAP! Until then, thank you for reading! Pardon the grammar mistakes! Reviews appreciated! (LOVE THEM, I LOVE ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS. THANK YOU.)**


	7. Chapter 6

During the practice match, Kuroko was a hundred percent certain that Takao was not giving his all. Picking up the ball that rolled out of the court, being really careful, he turned his head a little towards Shuutoku's side to peek at Takao who was being scolded at by all of his teammates.

What was he doing? He was sure Takao would not let any ball reach him since he could see him better than the others could. _Wasn't he looking forward to this day because of the practice match they were going to have against each other? _And there he was, being smacked by one of his senpai, Miyaji-san, was it? They seemed pretty mad at him. That was for sure of course, he was not taking this seriously after all.

He let out a sigh before he stood up, ball firmly gripped in between his hands. He walked back to Kagami's side and handed him the ball. "Oh, thanks," Kagami said and looked back at where he was looking at, which was obviously at their opponent.

"Do you know what happened to him?" He asked, boredom could be seen on his face, maybe it was not a match he had expected. And by 'him', Kagami meant Takao. Kuroko continued looking straight ahead at the Shuutoku members and shrugged. "I don't know," then paused as he looked up at Kagami. "What makes you think that I would know?"

Feeling his stare on him, Kagami turned to meet his gaze and scratched his cheeks a little with his finger, looking thoughtful. "I'm not sure… I just had a feeling you might know," Kuroko should be a little cautious around Kagami, he had sharp senses about this lately. But he was right, Kuroko did know what was wrong. No, he was not sure if it was right and he did not want to shower too much love or praises on himself _by himself_ but if anything were to be the reason why Takao suddenly acted like that, it would be Kuroko.

He did not know why he thought that would be it though it felt like Takao was purposely trying to lengthen the time of the practice match longer than expected. He shook his head lightly to bring himself back to reality, shaking off the thoughts that would make him float on clouds of happiness. This was just his thoughts, his imaginations, not all of it might be true.

If it were though, Kuroko would be on cloud nine. He had spent so much time thinking whether Takao would forget about him, abandon him and he was afraid of that. He tried to convey his feelings to him continuously through his pictures he sent but he was not sure if it reached him. _I doubt_, he thought, certain of it. How could pictures of his dog and friends help convey feelings?

They would occasionally be on the phone at times and Kuroko really tried. He wanted to tell Takao about this throbbing feeling that had been born in his heart because of him. And surprisingly, he wanted to be pampered by Takao, allowing him to be selfish once in a while since he had always been holding back. Why did he thought that keeping it as a secret would be a great idea from the start?

It was okay at first, doing everything secretively. However, after sticking with such conditions for a long period of time did not go really well. They could not even go on a proper date, go into each other's houses, without being cautious of people. That also meant that he or Takao could not go to Shuutoku or Seirin to walk home together. It would be weird to see them so close when they never really interacted.

The side of his lips curved, forming into a smile as Kuroko thought about the time when they were briefed by the coaches. All the insecurities, anxiety were immediately wiped out after Takao told him those words. Thinking back to what had happened, it made Kuroko's heart flutter a little bit because it was the first time he heard him say that after a month or so, Kuroko could not remember. It had been way too long.

It felt like Takao transferred his love through the warmth of his palm and into Kuroko. It warmed Kuroko up all over.

"Oi, what's wrong?"

Confused at what had happened, he looked back at Kagami. "What do you mean?"

"You were sighing so I thought something might have happened,"

Feeling his eyes widen for an instant, he asked, "Did I?"

"Yeah, you sounded happy though,"

He was. Feeling a smile creeping up his face, he allowed it to as he relaxed.

"I am,"

The practice match really lasted longer than expected since Shuutoku kept requesting for a rematch and still eventually lost to Seirin. Hyuuga went over to Ootsubo and shook hands with him, thanking him for the intense matches they had once the last match ended. Midorima looking really dissatisfied and got mad when Kagami bragged about it to him.

But that was not what Kuroko was interested in. He was more interested in Takao who was laughing at Midorima's reaction until tears started forming at the corner of his eyes, wiping them off as it did. Midorima finally reached his limit and raised his arm to hit Takao in the head, making him whimper as he rubbed his head in pain.

When Midorima's fist landed on Takao's head, it made Kuroko flinch as if he was the one getting hit. Kuroko continued sipping on his drink quietly before getting up to leave his space.

* * *

It was a success.

What was? Lengthening the game, of course. Takao knew it would end up that way if he screwed up a little. Did all of this worth the scolding? Yes. All he had to do was to just let his focus slip and instead place them on the cutest thing alive on court.

"Takao!"

"What is it?" Still rubbing the bump left by Midorima on his head, he turned to the owner of the voice, it was Miyaji-san.

"We're all going to the cafeteria now, having Riko-san make dinner for us," He said, a disgusting smile stuck on his face, obviously excited to eat a meal cooked by a girl for the first time. "And you!" He pointed at Takao with his index finger. "Have to stay here and reflect on today's practice matches!"

"Huh?!" Takao stood up in shock. "But-"

"No buts!" Miyaji said, hands placed on Takao's shoulders, he pushed him down on his seat. "Don't you dare step out of this room!" Then everyone flooded out of the room. Midorima stopped his feet for a moment to look back at Takao but quickly walked out.

Sighing, Takao buried his face in his hands. Here he thought that he had nothing to regret about no matter how hard he tried to but he did not have to even give an effort to feel the regret planting in him right now. Unable to hold in the frustration, he sighed again, ruffling his raven coloured hair with his finger.

Not only did he not get to try Riko-san's cooking, he could not even see Kuroko now. He leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. "Ah… Just what have I done…?" _Shin-chan even said that I was ranked first in OhaAsa but what is with this luck?_ Just when he was about to let out another sigh, he heard the door of the locker room click open.

Humming, he lowered his head to look at the person standing in the doorway. "What brings you here all of a sudden?" he asked, cheered up and feeling lucky already. "Tecchan?

Kuroko stood there for a moment and then closed the door behind him slowly to not create any unnecessary sound. "Takao-kun," He had a tray of a plate of curry rice in hand and a cup of water in hand. Was it for him?

"Tecchan," calling his name softly, wanting to hear Kuroko say his name again and he did.

"Takao-kun," walking towards Takao, he put down the tray beside Takao and buried Takao's face into his chest, hugging him. Takao returned the gesture, circling his arms around his waist, he never knew Kuroko would be the one on the initiative but this was going to happen either way anyway.

"I've missed you," whispered Kuroko as he increased the strength of arms to hug him tightly. "… A lot," It stabbed Takao in the chest, hard when Kuroko sounded like he was about to cry. Ah, just when he finally got to hear it from his mouth, he did not know if he should be happy or sad.

"… Yeah, me too," breathing in a deep breath before he replied. Kuroko's scent, his warmth, everything about him calmed Takao down. It did not seem to matter even if he did not get to eat anymore now that he was here with him, alone. "I've missed you so much I thought I was going to break," nuzzling into his white T-shirt, he swallowed the lump forming in his throat. "It hurts," he continued, his voice hoarse.

Kuroko said nothing for a while but hugged him closer, wanting no air or space to be in between them. "I'm sorry," he said, finally. "If only I didn't come up with this condition last time, we wouldn't have to go through all this,"

"We could always tell them now,"

"But…"

Takao knew Kuroko regretted it but he also knew at the same time that Kuroko did not want the others to know. Maybe it was because he was conscious of what the other guys might feel about their relationship. The possibility of the others creating a distance from them was fairly high and he did not want Kuroko to experience that.

"I know," Takao said, not wanting Kuroko to say more, repeating "I know," again to assure him. "Which is why I always wished that I was studying at Seirin's,"

Standing up a little straighter, removing his head from Takao's (but still very close to his face), Kuroko cocked his head to the side in a questioning manner. "Is Shuutoku no good?"

Takao tilted his head up to look at his Tecchan, grinning at him. "Don't get me wrong, I've never regretted coming over to Shuutoku. I mean, it's a great school with a great basketball team," he hummed a little, thinking of what else to add. "And if I were to not have come to Shuutoku then I wouldn't have met Shin-chan and the others, right? I just wished I was in Seirin, that's all,"

"Why?"

"So I can do this," he said before planting a kiss lightly on Kuroko's lips with ease since it was just a few inches away from his when he hung his head to look at Takao. "Every day," whispering the last words.

Obviously shocked, he moved his face away from Takao's, covering his mouth with the back of hands, blushing at his actions.

"See? That was what I meant!" chuckling softly at his cute reaction, Takao said.

"That was unfair," Kuroko pouted, cheeks puffed in dissatisfaction.

"What was?" Takao stopped laughing to smirk at him. "All is fair," he said as he pulled Kuroko closer.

To his surprise, Kuroko clamped his face in between his hands and felt his lips on Takao's. It was only a quick peck on the lips but then Kuroko quickly placed a chaste kiss on Takao's cheeks. "There," Kuroko said, feeling proud of his actions. "We're even now,"

Takao was stunned. He could not do anything but sit there and stare back at his Tecchan with widened silvery blue eyes, the colour red dyeing his face. "… Takao-kun?"

He tugged Kuroko down lightly as he opened up his mouth, ready to return more to Kuroko. "One more time,"

* * *

**A/N : Yes, two chapters in a week. I'm already feeling accomplished. Why two chapters in a week? Because first, I thought I should make up for the slow updates. Secondly, the reviews you guys showered me motivated me to do so. I can't even begin thanking you enough. Thank you. Please do enjoy the chapters! I'm really having fun typing these! XD *read the reviews* YES, TAKAKURO IS LOVE AND LIFE. SO GLAD PEOPLE AGREE. TAKAKURO! And if you're still wondering if the others would find out, I'll leave that to your imaginations at the moment if you'll allow me to continue writing this painful relationship they share! If you see any mistakes in here, please excuse it! Thank you for reading! Reviews MUCH appreciated! Thank you! Have a nice day! Sparkles!**


	8. Chapter 7

Listening to Kuroko whimper as Takao kissed him as deep as he could go, it turned him on. So much he could just strip Kuroko this instant and devour him but he chose not to. This was the way Takao respected Kuroko. If anyone from their teams had suddenly barged in while they were at it then that would be bad. Mostly because Takao had to stop with what he was doing and it would be more of a let-down.

Restraining himself from pulling Kuroko's shirt off, he grabbed hold of his waist instead, as if holding onto something would help him fight the urge. It felt good kissing him like this again. His heart was beating so hard against his ribcage, it hurt. It felt like it would explode any moment now from all the happiness.

Takao thought he could not handle the urge anymore and slowly broke the kiss. Lowering his head, he took in a deep breath, replenishing air in to his lungs and looked back up at Kuroko. His face was flushed, he was still panting from what happened. Takao understood and let him take his time to catch up with his own breath.

"What is it?" Kuroko asked, wondering why Takao stopped.

"Well…" Takao started, letting it trail off for a bit as he pushed Kuroko's white T-shirt up slightly as if he was asking for permission. "Is it okay?" feeling bolder than just now, he revealed more of the pale white skin underneath his clothing, sucking on it, leaving a hickey near his waist. "If I do more than just kissing you on the lips?" he continued while he placing kisses gently on his stomach, his left hand pushing up to reveal more of Kuroko's skin.

Takao could feel Kuroko shiver under his touch, he seemed like he had trouble breathing. Probably because he had his eyes on Takao's every movement until he forgot to breathe. Shifting his attention back onto his swollen lips, Takao sucked on them again, amused with his reaction. Even though he was being careful as if Kuroko was made of glass as he savoured him but that did not stop him from going a little rougher than usual, not giving the poor boy a break this time.

Kuroko, being breathless, struggled to remove his lips from Takao's but the raven haired boy inputted more strength to hold Kuroko in place. Kuroko pushed Takao's shoulders harder and finally broke free from the kiss. Takao watched him take big gulps of air as he took his. He felt Kuroko tug on the collar of his T-shirt lightly. He looked into his shiny blue orbs, tears welling up in his eyes. What did Takao do wrong?

"Where did you keep it?" Kuroko asked in a breathy voice.

Where did he keep it? What did he meant by 'it'? Takao had no idea what he meant, he wondered if it was because of what happened just now between the two of them. His thoughts were in disarray. It took him a lot to cock a brow at him to show that he did not have a clue of what he was trying to get back from him.

"You stole my breath," he said, pausing to take another breath. "And I want it back,"

_What?_ Takao hummed. He could not help it. It just amused him so very much when Kuroko said that to him. He pulled Kuroko's face back down, startling him. "I'm afraid I can't," he whispered, looking straight into his eyes. "Because you took mine too and I don't mind it being with you always,"

Kuroko's lips formed into a straight line, unsatisfied, his face extremely warm in Takao's hands. "You always win in this," he puffed his cheeks, only a little though as he held onto Takao's hands which were still cupping his face, lowering his body down to sit on Takao's lap.

"Were you planning your lines for this day?" Takao questioned, placing both of his hands on his waist so his precious would not fall from his lap.

Kuroko placed his hands on his shoulders. "You're going to laugh at me if I say yes,"

"So you did?"

"No,"

Takao started chuckling at his dishonesty. "How very honest of you to say that," he said as he placed a kiss on the tip of Kuroko's nose.

"Takao-kun—"

The door suddenly slammed open.

"Kuroko-kun!/Kuroko!" Two voices could be heard at the same time, calling for the same person.

Riko gasped as she saw what happened in the Shutoku locker room. And beside her stood a Kagami with his mouth opened.

Kuroko was sitting on the ground at one of the corners of the room and Takao fell backwards from his seat on the bench. Takao quickly sat upright and rubbed the back of his head since he bumped it hard on the floor just now. "Yo! What brings you guys here in the locker room?" flashing a grin at Riko and Kagami. _Why do people always come into their way when things are finally heating up?_

"What were you guys doing?" Kagami asked, clearly suspecting that something happened before they entered the room.

"What did you think _we_ were doing?" Takao stood up, patting his pants to get rid of the dusts. "But then again, of course we weren't doing anything. Right, Tecchan?"

"Yeah, we were just talking about the practice matches we had just now so we could both improve at things that we're bad at," said Kuroko who came up with a brilliant excuse on the spot.

"Are you sure—"

"Alright, Kagami-kun. Get back to where the other guys are," Riko interrupted.

"But—"

"Kagami-kun,"

"... Fine," Kagami said grumpily and was ready to leave the room but he turned back to look at Kuroko. "Remember to eat something," the redhead kindly reminded his best friend, throwing a bottle of sports drink to him.

"Thank you, Kagami-kun," Kuroko said as he caught the bottle from him, watching him leave.

Riko turned to them and winked, sticking her tongue out as she did. "We actually came to get Kuroko to eat his portion of food but I guess it's okay for now. You guys could take the time of your world! I'll be leaving you two alone!" she ended her sentence with a melodious tone and shut the door behind her. Takao could hear her skip away from the door, sounding really happy as if she did something good. Well, Takao could bet that it was right.

Spreading his arms wide again, inviting Kuroko to come back to him, Takao waited. Kuroko put the bottle down and reached for him then wrapped his arms around him, hugging him with all the energy he had, squeezing his eyes shut as he did.

"Ah,"

"What is it?"

Kuroko stopped hugging him and moved towards something on the bench.

"You must be hungry," he said, picking up the plate of curry rice and handed it to Takao then passed the spoon to him. "I heard Miyaji-san said you were kept here to reflect on your actions for just now so I came over,"

"Eehh— I thought you came over because you missed me,"

"Are you an idiot?"

"Well, I _am_ your idiot. There's no turning back now," Takao said with a grin on his face.

"Yeah," Kuroko replied. "You're my idiot," he smiled at Takao lovingly. They just hugged and kissed but Takao wanted more already.

"Of course I am, and you're mine too," Takao returned the smile. "By the way, I've been looking forward to it since I heard from my coach but is this the food Riko-san made?"

"No,"

"But I want to try Riko-san's cooking!"

"... No,"

"But Tecchan—"

"No,"

* * *

**A/N : Why do people always come into their way when things are finally heating up? Good question. So hi, I finally thought I should continue typing and here it is! I hope it isn't too bad. And of course, I'm having fun typing this, as usual. Thank you for the reviews on the previous chapter! Thank you for reading! Pardon my grammar mistakes. Reviews appreciated! I hope you guys have a nice day/night depending on when you read this! **


	9. Chapter 8

"You see, I bet that Onii-chan doesn't have a girlfriend," says his annoying little sister.

_What?_

"You're his sister, don't say something mean about him like that even though it's the truth!" says his mother after gasping dramatically.

_What in the-_

"Honey, it can't be helped if it's the truth. Our daughter's just stating the fact," says his father while clasping a piece of fish with his chopsticks.

_So this is a fact now?_

"Hey, wait," this was too much. "Why are all of you so certain that I'm not taken?"

It was another typical evening where the Kazunari family got together and had dinner. However, what was extra for today was the topic of him being available, single, alone.

His sister, who had rice stuffed in her mouth, spoke with her mouth full. "You of all people asking us that? You're supposed to be the one with the answer,"

"Stop talking with your mouth full, gross," Takao said, pushing his sister's face away from him.

"So?"

Takao cocked a brow at his mother. "What do you mean by 'so'?"

His mother placed her arms on the table, leaning against it, a smile on her face. "Do you have one or do you not have one? Which is it?"

Everyone around the table were looking at him, waiting for his response. Including his father who does not usually take interest in his romance life.

Takao chose to keep quiet.

His sister hummed, clearly unamused. It was written all over her face. The next thing that was coming out from her was definitely not going to be good. "See, mom, I told you he doesn't have one," Takao was alright with what she was saying about him up to this point but then. "What a loser," she huffed, putting food into her mouth as she did.

_Me? A loser? This girl had got to be kidding me._

"Who said I didn't have one?"

"Oh! So you do have one!" his mother clapped her hands with joy. "Of course you would. You have your father's looks after all!" she said as she made happy noises when his father held her hand that was placed on the dining table.

"He could be lying," his sister eyed him as if he was her prey. "We need proof, Onii-chan, proof,"

* * *

"…"

"So that was what happened," Takao had never been this nervous in his life, not even during basketball competitions, no, it was worse than that. He was so nerve-wrecked to the point his throat started to dry up. He picked up his cup of drink from the table and gave it a quick sip.

"Then?"

The person sitting in front of him, across the table, stared at him with his expressionless blue eyes. It felt like it was piercing right through him. It only helped build the guilt up inside him.

"My," He cleared his throat once, twice, and thrice. He was not ready for this. It was all because he could not suck it up when his sister labelled him as a 'loser'. "My family wants to meet you,"

"Takao-kun,"

"I'm so sorry, I just had to," It was just like how he mentioned this to himself every day. His relationship was supposed to be a secret, it still is. He and his significant other made rules that they would not reveal their relationship to anyone unless necessary. For example, Riko-san and Momoi-san knew about their secret. How? Takao was not so sure. This had to be known from this blue head's story.

As he ran through his thoughts, he heard a sigh from the person seated in front of him. "I'm sorry," Takao apologised again, reaching his hand across the table and cupped the back of his precious' hand. "It's okay if you don't want to, I can just tell them I have not told you about them yet,"

"But Takao-kun, that excuse would not last long," Kuroko shook his head slowly, turning his hand over to hold Takao's hand. Takao frowned, his hands were so cold even with the heater on in this fast food restaurant. He started rubbing his thumb over the back of his hand without his own conscious. "They would ask you if you asked me already, over and over again,"

"But Tecchan…" he pulled Kuroko's hand to him, gently placing his lips on his hand. "If I don't do that, I'm afraid I can't keep this secret a secret anymore…" Takao held Kuroko's hand in both of his. "It's going to be okay, they know how forgetful I can be after all,"

It was a good thing the second floor of the restaurant was empty today. Weird for it to be especially when it was a Sunday, but it was good. They were seated on the furthest seat in the room, unnoticeable by the staffs who were working on that floor. A week had passed since the practice match at Shuutoku, and they were finally able to meet after rearranging their timetables until time was made for each other.

If you wanted to know, Takao ate Kagami's cooking and it tasted really good. He still did not know why Kuroko refused to let him try Riko-san's food though. Keeping all the good stuffs to himself, Takao was not satisfied.

"_Takao-kun, I'll never let you try coach's cooking, never,"_ Kuroko turned to look at him right before he exited the locker room. _"Never,"_

Was what he said and he left. After that, his seniors and even Midorima said to never try her cooking, at all. He still did not know why. Funny, isn't it?

"Takao-kun,"

"Hmm?" Takao sat up properly in his seat, he could hear the seriousness behind that monotonous voice his precious had.

"I like you,"

This took Takao off guard. Feeling the blood slowly rushing to his face, he said, "… Yes, me too,"

"A lot,"

"Tecchan," It was rare for him to be so honest with his feelings.

"Which is why I should go meet your family,"

This took Takao off guard, again. "Wh- What? Tecchan, are you sure?"

Kuroko took a deep breath. His face was tinted red instead of the usual pink. Maybe it was because he rarely tells Takao his feelings verbally. "I'm going to have to meet them one day anyway, right?" He tightened his grip on Takao's hand. "So since they wanted to meet me, I thought it would be a good chance for us to properly do this,"

"You have to know one thing though," Takao said after a while.

Kuroko tilted his head to the side in a questioning manner. "What is it?"

"They… Think that you're a girl,"

"…" Kuroko looked down at his lap for a slight moment then looked back up at Takao again. "I'm sorry but are you meaning to tell me that you haven't told them?"

It was Takao's turn to sigh. "You know it's not easy, Tecchan," lightly pecking on Kuroko's hand, he could not look at Kuroko in the eye. Kuroko knew what he meant. "If it were that easy, we wouldn't have to be going through all the trouble of keeping it a secret from literally everybody,"

Takao could feel him averting his gaze away from himself to their hands and back to him. "I'm sorry, you're right," he pulled his hand out from Takao's grasp and put it back on his lap. "I was being a little too agitated," said Kuroko as he lowered his head.

"Tecchan…" Takao called his name, frowning slightly after feeling the warmth of another person slowly slipping away. "I'll definitely bring you back home but I'm not going to say anything about it until they realise it," he paused and leaned onto the table, tilting his head to the side so that he could see Kuroko's face better. "Is that okay with you?"

"But what if they don't ever realise?"

"Then they'll just have to suck it for not being able to see me care and love for someone other than them," Takao shrugged, putting on a grin. "And this will continue to be a secret,"

Seeing Takao's smile made Kuroko relax. He smiled and nodded.

* * *

**A/N: It's been a long time. How has everything been? Mine has been a disaster but I'm managing. I thought I should quickly type one out before my final examinations start and here it is! This chapter is much more like a filler chapter? The main course comes in the next. I'm still making it a secret for everyone else but who knows, I might let someone find out in the next, not an important character though. If I had the time, I'll upload another one by tomorrow! (Not happening, I'm so sorry.) I'm sorry if you wanted some fluff out of this chapter and I've given you none after so many months. :( I promise there will be fluff, as fluffy as cotton candies, as soft as marshmallows, in the next chapter (I'll try). Until then! Thank you for making it until the end and even reading this long A/N of mine! Thank you for the reviews from the previous chapter, I read them and it was also the reason why I'm continuing this! *bows* Thanks, CIAO *sparkly smiley face***


	10. Chapter 9

"So, the plan here now is that I bring you in as a friend and we'll see how things go from there," Takao explained. "If they found out then that's good, if they didn't, well, everything's good too,"

After Takao talked to Kuroko about his parents wanting to meet his 'girlfriend', it had been a month since. It took them that long because they needed to get ready both mentally and physically. They picked Sunday to be the day, with the first reason being Takao's family was guaranteed to be at home. Secondly, Midorima did not need him on a Sunday, always. And the last one was that Kagami practises alone on Sundays. It was a perfect day.

Takao came over to his house to pick him up, bringing him to his place, not that he had not been there before. Kuroko in fact, goes to Takao's place quite often, his family were usually not around and all they did was stay locked up in his room, doing- you know, stuffs. Nothing indecent, really, pardon your imagination.

They were currently walking together, side by side on the street back to his house, his right hand wrapped in Takao's, inserted into Takao's coat pocket, feeling his warmth transfer into him. Takao would occasionally rub his thumb on the back of Kuroko's hand as he talked, it was like he did it unconsciously. Kuroko had no idea why but he liked it a lot.

It was a long way from Kuroko's to Takao's so they had their own time for each other. As they walked, they talked about literally anything they could think of. Even though it was only Takao doing most of the talking, it was not boring at all. Kuroko enjoyed every single tiny detail he told him about what happened around him. He once asked Takao if he did not like him for being so quiet and to his surprise, Takao cupped his face and pulled Kuroko to him, looking into his eyes and told him that every second that he spent with him was as precious as diamonds, that he loved that he was just there, his presence was what mattered. Feeling the love from Takao, Kuroko almost cried at that time but he held it in.

"I do hope they find out though,"

"I thought you wanted it to be a secret?" Takao turned to look at him, bewildered. "We've been trying so hard to keep it as it is,"

Kuroko stopped on his tracks. Takao, who immediately noticed, stopped his feet and turned to face Kuroko.

"But we would still need your parents' approval of my existence to make this thing go on, right?"

Takao had the he-does-have-a-point face written all over. "Right,"

"But like you said, we'll just see how things flow,"

"Don't worry, I'll talk to them when the time comes," he tugged on Kuroko's hand lightly, removing his hand from his and opened up his arms. Kuroko stepped in and Takao wrapped him in a hug, his head resting on his.

Snaking his arms around his waist, Kuroko buried his face into Takao's coat. "I want to talk to them too," he said, voice muffled.

Takao patted him on the head gently, his other hand pulled him closer into the hug. "Sure," He was pretty sure he would have all the time to.

* * *

"Kuroko-san!"

His name was called when he entered the doorstep with Takao. Kuroko tilted his face up to see who it was and recognised her as Takao's younger sister.

"Good afternoon," he bowed even though he was the elder one here.

He heard Takao groan. "Gee, go back to your room. Why are you hanging out here at a time like this?" Takao said as he took his shoes off and just left them there as it was.

"Why do I need to take orders from you? I can hang out wherever I want," his sister replied, crossing her arms over her chest, upset at Takao's tone when he talked to her.

He stood over her, using his height to intimidate her. "Because I am your elder brother, now if you don't mind, would you please move along?"

"Oh, I do mind. I'm not moving, idiot!"

"Who are you calling an idiot?!"

As they were arguing with each other, Kuroko took off his shoes, stepped into the house, turned around, got down to his knees and placed his and Takao's shoes neatly at the steps, like what a 'girlfriend' would do. His sister was shocked and they thought that they were already done for.

When Takao was about to open his mouth, it was too late.

"Onii-chan! How can you make the guest do things like these for you?!" she said, loudly. "That's so impolite of you!" she pushed her brother to the side and walked towards Kuroko. "I'm so sorry, he has always been like that. Thank you so much for looking after my idiot brother for us. He must have caused you so much trouble, I'm really sorry,"

Both of them did not know if they should be relieved or disappointed. "No, it's okay," he waved his hand, dismissing her apology. "I was putting mine aside so I thought I should help put Takao-kun's too,"

"You shouldn't have! You should have just ignored his, no need to bother about it!"

"If you're so bothered by the fact that he did that for me then why not you do it before he does," Takao scoffed at his sister. "Come on, Tecchan, ignore this dimwit. Mom and Dad should be in the living room,"

"Dimwit?!" she shouted.

Takao pushed pass his sister and walked down the hallway. Kuroko followed but before that, he bowed at his sister again, apologising for his behaviour and smiled at her.

"Tecchan," Takao turned to him, his hand reached out as if he wanted Kuroko to put his hand into them. Kuroko hesitated for a bit. His sister was just standing right beside of him. Should he go for it? Was it going to be okay if he did? Questions came shooting at him until he looked up and Takao. He was smiling at him, mouthing an "Everything's going to be fine," at him. Just looking at him smile, with those unheard words from his mouth, it made Kuroko feel better.

He once again put his hand into Takao's and walked behind him as Takao guided him to the living room.

"Your hands are so cold," he chuckled, thumb rubbing the back of his hand again.

"That's because we just came in," said Kuroko.

"It isn't the matter of whether we're out or not, you're cold all the time,"

"No, I'm not,"

"You are,"

"Takao-kun, I'm not,"

"Look me in the eye and tell me that you're not feeling cold right now,"

"Ngh…" He was right. Kuroko was feeling cold. In fact, he was actually feeling really cold. Walking for quite a distance meant walking in the cold for some time. Kuroko could not say anything and chose to look away for a bit and then back at Takao again.

"See?" Takao grinned at him. "Let's quickly get into the living room, I'll turn the heater up for you,"

Kuroko knew one thing though, that whenever Takao smiles or grins, his heart warms up. Oh, did he mention his face warms up instantly too?

Totally forgetting about Takao's sister's existence at the doorstep, she stared at them in confusion.

* * *

**A/N: Hi there! Writing another chapter just because I was feeling stressed out since the beginning of December. I hope the story isn't boring you too much, I'm really sorry for not being able to do my best at these. It's been a while since I've actually touched on fanfictions and I obviously know that I've lost them, going to have to do some more reading to get back on track. Hope you could enjoy my slow updates at the meantime! If things are going well in life, there should be another chapter before 2015 ends (don't get your hopes up though XD). Do have a pleasant day/night, depending on when you're reading this! Smiley face!**


	11. Chapter 10

Something was definitely up between the both of them.

Who did I meant? My brother and Kuroko-san, of course! Since the moment they entered the house together, they seemed nervous, each action they took seemed tense, unnatural. And it was only just now that Kuroko-san placed his and Onii-chan's shoes properly at the doorstep like it was his job when it was actually mine. Something was definitely up but I chose to keep quiet and see how things would go.

Right after I made up my mind, the two were already acting suspiciously at the hallway. They were trying to hide it but I managed to see it happen. Onii-chan just prompted Kuroko-san to hold hands with him. Why? Even though they may be friends but was that not a little bit too intimate? It felt like they were more than friends but what could they be if they were?

Kuroko-san obeyed and Onii-chan started talking to him, smiling at him, looking at Kuroko-san with those eyes. _I repeat, those eyes._ I have never seen that face expression he had on now in all this years I lived with him. I continued observing and felt as if I saw some sort of pink aura around the both of them. What was that? Even though I was told that I have bad eyesight, it should not have been too bad to the point I start seeing things, right?

Whatever Onii-chan said to Kuroko-san, it definitely made him fluster, his face was so red I thought he was going to burn up. There were so many questions in my mind right now but with no answers to them. I thought I know what was going on but I did not want to make up conclusions, yet. Mom and Dad were looking forward to meet Kuroko-san for the first time since he always came at a time when either Mom or Dad were not home while I am or when no one except Onii-chan was home.

I did have another question I wanted to ask though, when was Onii-chan going to bring his so-called-girlfriend home for dinner? He kind of promised he would do it but I still could not see her. His girlfriend thing might have been a lie but oh well.

As I spent too much time on my thoughts, both Onii-chan and Kuroko-san already went into the living room that was connected with both the kitchen and the dining room, where Mom and Dad were. To simply put this, at our house, all three of these spaces were in one room.

I walked to the closed living room door and pushed it open, Mom was already setting up the table for dinner while Onii-chan and Kuroko-san were talking to Dad at the couch. Dad was questioning Kuroko-san about stuffs and he answered them smoothly, with no difficulty. Dad did not forget to say thank you for taking care of stupid Onii-chan too.

"What are you standing there for? Come over and help!" I heard Mom said to me, I turned to walk in her direction, placing plates and bowls passed by Mom onto the table.

While doing all of that, I continued with my observations. It did not seem like anything weird like just now was happening now, I let out my breath. I felt someone's presence close beside me, it was Mom.

"Hey, don't you think Kuroko-kun is kind of cute?" she said while looking straight ahead at Kuroko-san. _Yes, indeed he is._ But of course I did not say that out loud. "You should go for him,"

I almost dropped the plate I had in my hands but quickly got a proper grip on to it. "M-M-Mom…! What are you saying?!"

"Eh? But you like him, right?"

_Yes I do but how did YOU of all people know when this was your first time meeting him?!_

I turned my face away from her, not wanting to see the blush on my face. "Why do you say that?" I still wanted to know how she came up with such conclusions.

I saw her shrug at the corner of my eye. "I don't know, it was just a hunch?"

I wanted to continue interrogating her but she changed the subject.

"Boys, it's time to eat!" The three men in the living room turned to look at us and started getting out of their seats to the dining table. Kuroko-san's eyes met mine and he nodded at me, a tiny smile on his face. I returned the gesture, feeling the heat of my face when I turned my back to my mother to cover my face with my hands.

Mom and Dad sat together at one side of the table while Onii-chan and Kuroko-san on the other side. I sat alone, with my bowl covering my face so that no one would notice me peeking at Kuroko-san. We were all talking about things that did not seem to have any suspicion in them. Everything was going well so far. Then again, there would not be anything that would happen because they were all in front of Mom and Dad.

… Or so I thought.

I was drinking soup off my bowl and just when I looked up, I saw Onii-chan's hand over Kuroko-san's knee. I choked on the soup and started to have a coughing fit. Mom was giving me a lecture of not being a more elegant girl and then telling me stories of how when she was younger she was so much more proper than I. Dad just shook his head and drank his soup while Onii-chan just laughed, his hand still on Kuroko-san.

It was not that it was weird for Onii-chan to put his hand on someone's knees, okay, maybe it was but he had always been touchy with people since young. The problem was, most were uncomfortable with his touching except for Kuroko-san. He did not seem to mind the fact that his hand was on his knee.

"Are you okay?"

His voice was so gentle. With my hand over my mouth, still coughing, I took the piece of tissue that Kuroko-san gave me and drank a cup of water that was on the table. I thanked him and he smiled, again. According to Onii-chan, he rarely smiles. But I had already seen it thrice for today.

_Oh, he's so cute._

_It had to be my imagination, it must have._ It was most probably because I got jealous at Onii-chan I was starting to see things and think too much.

After what seemed like a few more minutes, we finished our food and it was time to clear the dishes. Mom wanted to get something from the convenience shop and Dad wanted to go with her because the area had not been safe recently. Onii-chan said he would do the dishes so I left the job to him. As I was ready to go back to my room, I realised I left my smartphone back at the dining table and wanted to go get it but stopped at my tracks when I reached the door.

* * *

"Your parents are really nice people," Kuroko said to Takao, he was by the sink, doing the dishes.

"They can be annoying at times, but they're cool," Takao replied, leaning onto the counter by the sink. "Please forget what they told you about me when I was younger,"

Kuroko stopped with his hands and looked at him. "Why would I," it did not sound like a question.

Takao sighed. "If my sister sees that you're the one doing the dishes now, she would be so mad," he said, changing the subject as Kuroko continued washing the dishes.

"Your sister is really nice too even though this is not the first time I've seen her,"

"Really? She's a pain,"

"But you love her as much as you love your family, right?" Kuroko chuckled, knowing that what Takao said had more meanings behind them.

Takao was silent for a while until suddenly, he went behind Kuroko and snaked his arms around his waist, hugging him. "Not as much as I love you,"

"Takao-kun, we're at your home, in your kitchen," Kuroko said without looking away from his task. "You should let go,"

"I don't want to," he pouted. "I'm already out of battery for today," he kissed Kuroko lightly on the cheek, and then buried his face in the crane of his neck.

Kuroko was done with the dishes, he dried his hands with the hand towel and reached to ruffle Takao's raven black hair. "Your sister is still at home. We can do this at another time,"

Takao made a noise, disagreeing at that suggestion, he nuzzled his face on Kuroko's clothing and pulled him closer.

"… Takao-kun,"

_Ah, there comes the warning._ Takao lifted his head up and loosened his grip around Kuroko but then Kuroko placed his right hand on the back of his head and pulled him down, feeling his lips on his.

He gently nibbled on them and let go. "There…" he took off the apron he had on him and placed on the countertop. "Was that enough?"

"No,"

"No," Kuroko said immediately. "You're not getting more than that until next time,"

"Eeeeehhhhhhh, but Tecchan-"

* * *

What was that? Did I see what I was not supposed to see? Kuroko-san kissed Onii-chan? _They are going out with each other?_

I needed to calm down, I stood up and wanted to climb up the stairs but due to me squatting for a long while, my legs gave away and I fell. And just then Kuroko-san and Onii-chan came out from the door to the hallway.

"You…" Onii-chan started.

"Onii-chan,"

Kuroko-san reached his hand out to help me up which I gladly took. We then went into Onii-chan's room for a talk.

And I decided to tell the truth.

"I've seen it," I said.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you're not too confused with the sudden change of point of view, I thought that it would be interesting if I did a point of view of Takao's sister! I actually wanted to make this chapter a Christmas special but I couldn't make it in time so here's the continuation of the previous one. Like always, thank you for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter! This is a present from me to you, Merry Christmas! Remember to eat your cookies and drink your milk! Sparkles!**


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